THE GOLDEN STATE RECORD Pop-Up Magazine, California Sunday Magazine and Noise Pop present The Golden State Record at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley Friday, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. The show, inspired in part by The Golden Record, launched into deep space by NASA and Carl Sagan in 1977, celebrates and explores the sounds, ideas, and culture of California and the West today. Described as a “first-of-its-kind music and storytelling event,” the lineup includes musicians Shamir, Lil B, Thao Nguyen and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, and performers including Janna Levin, Jace Clayton andJon Mooallem. More information and tickets ($52 and $60).
DRAWN TOGETHER AT FAIRYLAND Not actually in Berkeley, but there are enough Berkeley ties to this one that we are prepared to make an exception! The fourth annual Drawn Together: A Celebration of Bay Area Artists at Children’s Fairyland, on Friday Sept. 30, 6-9pm, is in fact for grown-ups only, despite the venue, and offers the chance to experience Children’s Fairyland after dark while supporting our vibrant local arts community. The event brings together more than 50 local artists, including at least six from Berkeley, to draw, paint and sketch in Oakland’s much-loved storybook park. The results will then be sold to the fastest bidders at a fixed price of $40 per piece. Participating galleries include the Berkeley Art Center. Complimentary beer and wine, tarot readings and fairy hair extensions will enhance the magic of the evening. Proceeds will help fund park restoration projects. Find details and tickets on the Drawn Together event’s Facebook page.
THREE-DAY WORLD PEACE WALK The Berkeley-based Light of Buddhadharma Foundation International is hosting the third international Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony at the temples of Mangalam Centers (2018 Allston Way) and Dharma College (2222 Harold Way) in downtown Berkeley. The event started on Thursday Sept. 29 and runs through Saturday Oct. 1. The assembly will be chanting the Digha Nikaya, the collection of long Suttas from the Pali Canon, which contains the teachings given by the Buddha during his lifetime and preserved in the language of Pali. Over 50 eminent Theravadin monks and nuns from Northern California’s Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, Sri Lankan and Vietnamese Buddhist temples will attend the three-day event, along with many lay Buddhist practitioners from around the Bay Area. The general public are warmly invited to attend. Dharma talks will be offered in English on the evening of Friday Sept. 30. There is no fee to participate in the Peace Walk or Chanting ceremonies. Please contact LBDFI at to register your interest to attend. For more information, visit LBDFI’s website at www.lbdfi.org
THE GIFT TO SING AT BANCROFT LIBRARY For decades UC Berkeley professor emeritus of history Leon F. Litwack has been accumulating what is arguably the world’s finest private collection of books on African-American history and culture. The Gift to Sing exhibition at the Bancroft Library displays highlights of the collection that will be coming to the library as a bequest. The Litwack collection is particularly noteworthy for its Harlem Renaissance first editions in strikingly illustrated dust jackets. The exhibition includes books with distinguished provenance such as a copy of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave with an inscription by the famous abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Complementing the Litwack books are treasures from Bancroft’s significant African-American holdings, including the first book by an African American, Phyllis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in 1773. See the exhibit for free — and it’s open this Saturday, Sept. 30, which is unusual as the library is normally open Monday through Friday. Information at the Bancroft Library website.
DANCE FUNDRAISER The students of dance teacher Marithess Rico have teamed up with Jhonatan and Daniela Productions and The Beat to host a fundraising dance social for Rico, who is urgently in need of a kidney donor. Rico’s kidneys are functioning at less than 10% and she is on a donor waiting list but the estimated wait time is 5-10 years. In the meantime she must spend ten hours a day on home dialysis, on top of trying to hold a normal eight-hour job and caring for herself and her son. The transplant alone can cost up to half a million dollars. At the event, which takes place this weekend, learn to dance Bachata with a class for beginners, be amazed at performances by local dancers and have fun dancing and meeting new people while contributing to a good cause. No experience required, family-friendly event, no partner required either! Saturday Sept. 1 at 8 p.m., and Sunday Oct. 2 at 1:30 p.m. at The Beat, 2560 Ninth Street, Unit 119, Berkeley. Tickets are $10. Visit the Raise the Love website for more information.
Don’t miss these other events featured on Berkeleyside:
From Brazil to Berkeley and back: Ian Faquini’s journey
At Brower Center, two artists drive home climate change
Ever wonder how Berkeleyside compiles its weekly It List? We rely on event organizers to tell us about their events (email editors@berkeleyside.com) and we also select events listed by organizers on the Berkeleyside Events Calendar — submissions are self-serve and free, so be sure to use it!
